Music streaming services represent the mainstream for music consumption in Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden: 9.4 million Nordic consumers streamed music in 2015. This is evident from the Polaris Nordic Digital Music Survey 2015, which was commissioned by three collecting societies Teosto (FIN), Koda (DK) and Tono (N).

Streaming Services Are A Big Hit
Alltogether 58% of Nordic respondents aged 15 to 65 (an estimated 9.4 million) say they have consumed music content within the previous twelve months from one or more music streaming services, such as Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal/Wimp or TDC/YouSeePlay. Looking at all online music sources, Spotify, YouTube and Apple iTunes are the top three music destinations for Nordic consumers.

Consumers Are Willing To Pay For Digital Music
The survey shows that a steady number of Nordic Internet consumers also pay for their online use of music. In 2015 a total of 23% of respondents aged 15 to 65 stated they had paid for their digital use of music within the last year (e.g. as downloads or via streaming services).

64% of all respondents also agree or strongly agree that music creators should be paid when their music is played on online services.

Radio Still Number One Source For Finding New Music
Radio remains the most often cited source for new music discovery in all four countries, followed by YouTube and dedicated music streaming services. 40% of Nordic respondents selected "I heard it on the radio" when prompted for the source of discovery for the latest new track found to be good. At the same time, also the role of music streaming services for music discovery seems to increase as the number of streaming music users keeps rising.

For young respondents the role of friends, social media and music streaming services was higher for music discovery, even though the role of radio remained considerable. They were also more likely to share music, music videos and playlists, and listen to shared or curated playlists on music streaming services.